


Answers

by meridian_rose (meridianrose)



Category: Fringe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-06
Updated: 2009-11-06
Packaged: 2017-11-13 21:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/507793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/pseuds/meridian_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walter knows science isn't about the answers but the questions<br/>For the 100_tales prompt 087 "Answers"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Answers

The Earth was round. The sun was really just a star, close enough for Earth to receive the heat and light that made life possible. Three was a prime number, divisible only by the integers of three and one. A circle contained 360 degrees.

These were facts. Walter knew people liked facts. He liked facts, too. He liked to drop such gems into conversation as that the largest known mammal was the blue whale, or that Antarctica was the only continent without reptiles or snakes:

Some people took refuge in science the way some took comfort in religion. Not Walter. He understood something about science that all true scientists held dear. There were no real answers, just more questions.

That a circle contained 360 degrees relied upon a man-made distinction of a degree. That the Earth was round had replaced the old belief that it was flat. Just because the blue whale was currently the largest known mammal, didn't mean there wasn't something even bigger lurking in the depths of the oceans that humans hadn't yet managed to explore.

For that, Walter was thankful. He couldn't image a world in which everything was known, proven beyond doubt. He couldn't conceive of a universe where there was nothing left to discover, where experiments would be unnecessary, where invention had come to a standstill. There were multiple parallel worlds, but Walter was certain there were none where every question had been asked and answered.

Walter had watched a disturbing movie last week called "The Matrix". It had been chilling to think such things might one day be possible, but Walter was more upset that anyone could envision a world where no new art was created, no evolution took place, no new discoveries were made.

Someone – he vaguely remembered it was the head of the U.S. Patent Office – had allegedly claimed there was nothing left to invent. Often quoted as taking place in 1875, this premature assumption was made before the discovery of x rays.

Those who weren't looking, Walter thought, wouldn't find, and those who said it was impossible, would never succeed. So many of his own theories had been mocked and derided and yet now his work was of vital importance – perhaps his theories and inventions would save the world.

The only downside to his successes was that it was all top secret. He'd never get the half-dozen Nobel prizes his work deserved. Ah, well. Fame wasn't important. It would be nice, but it wasn't important.

Walter turned and said, apropos of nothing, "Did you know, Allison, that celery has negative calories? That is, the eating of celery uses more calories than the celery itself contains."

Astrid just nodded politely.


End file.
